The clearing of the thistle is proceeding much faster than last year. I am doing much less digging out and much more cutting back and poisoning. The thistle thorns still get everywhere. I cleared out the thistle as far as the valley oak just below the summer house and hauled it all away to the middle of open field in front of the house. The most difficult part was digging out the thistle from the stones that had piled up against the tree. The obvious solution was to dig out a few stones to reach the thistle beneath, and I ended with a few fine border and filler stones.
Priming the fence mid-morning was pleasant. The west side of the house is sheltered until early afternoon and a gentle breeze prevailed. Shades of Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence.
The moon is three-quarters full now. After watching the 1936 movie version of Showboat with Irene Dunne and Paul Robeson, I went down the hall to my bedroom by moonlight. The ten foot windows in the music room allow an amazing amount of light from the east side of the house.
A Year at the Snake 